Kramnik's Perfect Start In Dortmund
Vladimir Kramnik won his second round game at the Dortmund tournament to establish a clear point lead over the field.
Kramnik won with the black pieces against Georg Meier, taking advantage of his opponent's time trouble.
Kramnik's first round victim Ruslan Ponomariov bounced back to win a nice game against Anish Giri.
The game between Le Quang Liem and Hikaru Nakamura ended in repetition after 22 moves.
Conventional draw offers are not allowed in Dortmund this year - players can only claim draws if the position is repeated or a decisive result is no longer possible.
Georg Meier came unstuck against Kramnik
Down but not out. Anish Giri (right) loses to Ponomariov
Le Quang Liem and Nakamura ended all square
The standings after two rounds:
| 1 | Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2781 | 2 |
| 2 | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2770 | 1 |
| 3 | Le, Quang Liem | VIE | 2715 | 1 |
| 4 | Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2764 | 1 |
| 5 | Giri, Anish | NED | 2701 | ½ |
| 6 | Meier, Georg | GER | 2656 | ½ |
The tournament runs from 21-31 July, with 26 July being a rest day. Games start at 3pm local time, except the final round which starts 2 hours earlier.
More information on this double round-robin event can be found at the official website (in German). The live games link is here.
Photos: Georgios Souleidis (official website)
